# Privacy/modesty in emergency situations **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791 "2011-02-01T16:41:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/21 "2011-02-02T01:02:34Z")
Probably on-scene: A lot of the things for which removal of clothing is indicated are things that should be done as quickly as possible, and which don’t require an MD’s training to do, and so would probably be done by the paramedic/first responder/whatever. And there are probably situations (in traumatic accidents and such) where the easiest way to extract the person in the first place involves cutting away clothing. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/22 "2011-02-02T01:52:55Z")
> [@sunstone](#): > > With regards to the need for privacy of patients, I asked 5 of my female friends if they were embarassed during the birth process itself. To a woman, they all replied in the negative A couple of years ago I had a cardiac ablation procedure that required entering through the groin with a catheter. Of course, this meant that my male bits were out for all to see (I got a shave out of it as well). Anyway, it wasn’t particularly embarrassing, but interestingly, they set up a towel thingie so that _I_ couldn’t see my bits (I was awake and sitting at an angle where I’d be able to otherwise see them). Somehow, this fact seemed to make things easier, as if the child-like part of my mind decided that if I couldn’t see my “shame,” then no one else could either. I’d suppose that the distended abdomen of a pregnant woman has a similar effect. I’d also suppose that the towel was mainly there to protect squeamish eyes from the mild gore, but that aspect had the opposite effect on me since my imagination filled in the details with something worse than the reality. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/23 "2011-02-02T01:54:33Z")
When I took my CPR/First Aid class, they made it very clear to remove the bra…especially if you are using a AED. Apparently metal effects the flow of electricity…and can leave some nasty bruises. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/24 "2011-02-02T02:36:40Z")
Retired EMT her. Respect for privacy is a factor but it is very far down the list. I have performed CPR several dozen times. One manual save. One cuts off clothing that is in the way. With CPR, that means down to the skin. So true, there is nothing erotic. I was so focused on trying to not have someone die. Could care less about breasts. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/25 "2011-02-02T03:48:29Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > I’m curious how often removal of clothing happens on scene versus in the ER. In my experience, it usually happens in the ambulance. Our goal in a major trauma is to minimize scene time and get the patient to a trauma center ASAP. Pretty much everything happens en route- airway management, detailed assessment, IVs, any other treatments. St. Urho Paramedic ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/26 "2011-02-02T16:12:59Z")
[anecdote] When my back went into spasm for the first time, I was in the bathroom of my house, and about to be seated on the throne. Therefore, my pants and undies were around my ankles. When my back went out, I fell over and was trapped between the toilet and the wall (it was a very small bathroom). My wife had to call the rescue squad to get me out. One of the EMTs draped a blanket over my exposed nether regions while they decided how to get me out and into the ambulance. It was considerate of him, but in the grand scheme of things, I was in too much pain to worry much about the fact that my naughty bits were on display. [/anecdote] Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/27 "2011-02-02T16:48:32Z")
> [@sunstone](#): > > With regards to the need for privacy of patients, I asked 5 of my female friends if they were embarassed during the birth process itself. To a woman, they all replied in the negative… Heh. My eldest sister is polite to a fault. When she was having some problems giving birth and was exposed far more than she was comfortable with, she later told us she actually said to the nurse, “I’m sorry I’m not making very good eye contact with you right now.” You may be sure the phrase has since entered the family mythos. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/28 "2011-02-02T17:14:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, your first task is to determine whether she’s breathing and whether her heart is beating. If her heart is beating but she’s not breathing, then you start with the rescue breathing (AKA mouth-to-mouth) but not the chest compressions, and if she’s doing both, then you don’t do either (I don’t think it’s possible to be breathing without the heart beating). Slight nit-pick. Your first task is to check for your own safety. You’re not going to be much help if you end up being electrocuted or gassed by the same thing that she was. When I was taught first aid the instructor suggested putting a coat over the patient once they had recovered and you were waiting for the ambulance. But you should always use somebody elses coat as you’ll never see it again! ---
**Author:** ![Nadir](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nadir/32/7302_2.png) [@Nadir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nadir)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/29 "2011-02-02T17:23:15Z")
And don’t forget to put on clean underwear every day, in case you get in an accident. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/30 "2011-02-02T18:25:57Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > Of course. I know my ABCs. I will still hesitate when it comes time to start ripping. I worked with a volunteer fireman who said (jokingly I hope) that in the case of a female patient ABC means “always bare the chest”. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/31 "2011-02-02T19:38:23Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > A couple of years ago I had a cardiac ablation procedure that required entering through the groin with a catheter. Of course, this meant that my male bits were out for all to see (I got a shave out of it as well). > > Anyway, it wasn’t particularly embarrassing, but interestingly, they set up a towel thingie so that _I_ couldn’t see my bits (I was awake and sitting at an angle where I’d be able to otherwise see them). > > Somehow, this fact seemed to make things easier, as if the child-like part of my mind decided that if I couldn’t see my “shame,” then no one else could either. **I’d suppose that the distended abdomen of a pregnant woman has a similar effect.** (my bolding) Some women go the opposite route - my wife asked for a mirror to be placed so she could see _everything_. Apparently hospitals get this request routinely enough that they have mirrors on rolling stands available. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/32 "2011-02-02T19:41:52Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > (my bolding) Some women go the opposite route - my wife asked for a mirror to be placed so she could see _everything_. Apparently hospitals get this request routinely enough that they have mirrors on rolling stands available. I thought about doing that when I had my vasectomy. But even though I was numb in \*that \*region, I was worried that I would flinch and foul the doc’s aim. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/33 "2011-02-02T20:17:23Z")
> [@Nadir](#): > > And don’t forget to put on clean underwear every day, in case you get in an accident. 😛 Isn’t that what an accident is though? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/34 "2011-02-02T20:31:07Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I’ve noticed on various medical shows (I’ve never seen it in real life, but I would assume it would be at least somewhat similar) that when paramedics are called for a patient who’s had a heart attack, is in a car accident where there might be chest trauma, etc., they cut away the patient’s shirt so they can reach his chest. Note that I said “his” because it’s always a man–obviously they can’t show a woman with her shirt (and presumably her bra) cut away on broadcast TV. Of course they can. Such things are shown all the time on broadcast TV here. If they’re not being shown where you are, then that’s either because of your community standards, or puritanical network bosses or government officials trying to impose them. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/35 "2011-02-02T20:54:16Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Isn’t that what an accident is though? :eek: No. An accident is when you’re caught in a traumatic event with yesterday’s doidies on. A “well-prepared mishap” is when you have an accident and put on clean underpants. See the difference here ? ---
**Author:** ![Nadir](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nadir/32/7302_2.png) [@Nadir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nadir)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/36 "2011-02-02T21:14:25Z")
What if you are not wearing any underpants at all and have some sort of, er, uh, “accident?” 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/37 "2011-02-03T01:21:14Z")
Not necessarily true, sometimes an accident (sudden deceleration syndrome) causes an accident (soiled skivvies). Been there, done that (but only because I’m an EMT), ain’t pretty. ---
**Author:** ![Backcountry\_Medic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Backcountry\_Medic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backcountry_Medic)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/38 "2011-02-03T01:30:44Z")
I’ve worked in the field and the ER as a paramedic and I can attest that modesty and decency are pretty much the last things in mind when on scene at a serious trauma. You are there to do a job- namely trying to save someone’s life- and to delay treatment because some creep with a cell phone camera or the chance the patient might be embarrassed in the future (if they actually survive) wouldn’t just be non-productive, it might even be negligent. Most trauma calls can be grouped into two categories, minor (“stay and play”) and critical (“load and go”); on most critical traumas one of the very first steps is to get a general impression of the patient. If they can’t talk or have obvious poly-trauma (multiple fractures/areas of copious bleeding) this will almost always entail removing all of their clothes. You have to be thinking of spinal precautions as well-‘D’ in the ABCDE mnemonic, so you can’t be pulling t-shirts over someone’s head or wrestling tight jeans off, so you just whip out some trauma shears and start snipping. I’ve never timed myself, but I would guess that I could get someone from fully clothed to totally naked in about 20 seconds, even cutting through items like leather belts, bra underwires, zippers and leather boots. Really you usually just cut right through the hems and rip the rest away. You have way too much else going on to worry about that. They cut off a lot of clothes in the ERs as well, both from walk-in patients and finishing up pants that have been half cut off and t-shirts with sleeves and a back, but no front, etc. There are lots of things you may do to a patient that would require them to be naked from the waist up (not as much for the waist down) so usually we wouldn’t even give people proper gowns for the first few hours, just try to keep them covered with a blanket when possible. I have seen cops, firefighters and even other bystanders try to get gawkers (some with cell phone cameras, no doubt) to move along, although I honestly don’t know if they have any authority to do so. It seems like calling them creeps and perverts works pretty well, regardless. Sadly, most of the “true medical horror” type pictures out there are probably taken by hospital employees, who are bound by law not to do such things. Several have been rightly fired and punished for their transgressions. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/39 "2011-02-03T10:04:37Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > when paramedics are called for a patient who’s had a heart attack, is in a car accident where there might be chest trauma, etc., they cut away the patient’s shirt so they can reach his chest. I remember this being one of the things people mentioned as being “nicely realistic” about Hospital Central (Spanish medical series), and one of those which would come up in conversation about the series in the list of “things which are done different in different places”: most of the time they wouldn’t cut people’s clothing but pull them off or up, with an occasional ripped button or shirt; they would cut someone’s clothes only rarely. In person, I’ve seen clothes pulled up to the armpits rather than taken off - this was done for expediency, rather than out of concern for the patient’s privacy. The immense majority of people kind of stop worrying about someone seeing their nipples when they’re trying to cough back half the Mediterranean. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791/40 "2011-02-03T12:07:19Z")
EMT here. Modesty was of little concern to us, but I would do what I could to preserve it. As a general rule, we would wait until the patient was in the ambulance before cutting clothes; I would leave undergarments alone unless there was a need for them to go. Pelvic injury, chest injury, cardiac arrest, etc. Only once was I ever oogied by nudity. That was a teenager in premature labor, and I had to check for crowning. There is NOTHING erotic about mommy parts when children are involved, either as owner or occupant. Garden variety CPR can and should be done with the patient clothed when the CPR givers are not emergency personnel. The duds come off only for the EMTs, unless you have an AED handy and are ready to use it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/privacy-modesty-in-emergency-situations/569791.md?page=3)